She became
interested in flying through Jack O'Meara, a
test pilot QB, and well known glider pilot.
She bought an airplane, a two seated Taylor.
craft, and flew out of Congressional Airport,
Rockville, Maryland. Studied for her commercial pilot's license at Emery Riddle's in
Miami, Florida.

Lt. Martin G. O'Connell, Jr. was my grandfather. I found your site, and a mystery is solved; I did not know the date of his death. I don't know much about him. Any information you can pass along would be appreciated more than words can express. Do you know if any of the 83rd Fighter Squadron are still alive?

I flew 75 missions - 3 missions on
D-day. I had eight of my planes shot up bad
enough to go to repair depot but these 47's
were real tough. I never bailed out and always
managed to get them back to home base...

In the late
summer of 1944 we were equipped with new
P-47D's and finally into combat. All together
I flew 102 combat missions, mostly ground
support, blowing bridges, rails ammo dumps,
fuel dumps, anti aircraft installations, some
bomber escort too. Our squadron, 347th had
3 Unit Citations when I left it in April, 1945

WWII FIGHTER ACE!
Norman Olson dropped out of Marquette University to join USAAF Reserves and commissioned a 2nd Lt. following graduation from Foster Field Flight School in May, 1942. Assigned to 313th FS/50th FG, he then became a flight leader in the 357DF/355FG in March 1943. B y the time Olson reached the ETO with the 355th FG in summer 1943 he had accumulated over 700 hours flight time.

His first flight in the theater was
out of Port Moresby, New Guinea, where he
flew with the outfit for 110 missions, 300
hours of combat and 9 major battles. . .
touching places like Noemfoor, Weiwak, Hollandia, Rabaul, Leyte, Mindoro, Luzon, Okinawa and Japan.

George flew 56 combat missions,
over France, Belgium, and Germany, primarily dive bombing and strafing, including
support for Patton's tanks. He also spent 21/2
months at 78th Inf. headquarters as Air/
Ground Cooperation Officer, coordinating
air support for the infantry. During this time,
the division accompanied the 9th Armoured
when it took the Remagen Bridge and made
the first Rhine crossing.

Owen was assigned Operations and Training Advisor to the Commander, Royal Laos
Air Force in 1961. The primary "weapons
system" was the T-6 with two .30 calibre
guns slung in pods under the wings. He was
one of the last USAF pilots qualified in the
T-6